CHICAGO (CBS) — A faith-based coalition is now on a mission to address a citywide epidemic of violence through a new gun violence reduction agency.
In what has become a tradition, these faith and community leaders were joined Sunday night by those affected by gun violence in a vigil seeking change.
Juan Salgado17, was shot and killed after leaving football practice. Maurits Kleistill only 18, was killed during a hail of bullets outside his school. Behind their faces and names – and those of many others whose photos are on display in a memorial in Lincoln Park – was a tragedy of a life taken too soon for gun violence so far in 2024.
The tributes to the victims sadly grow every year outside the Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church, 600 W. Fullerton Pkwy.
Inside the church, elected officials and faith leaders were busy Sunday evening mobilizing the ninth annual citywide vigil against violence. The vigil brings together community leaders determined to make a dent in the senseless shootings that have devastated countless families in Chicago.
The coalition of residents, faith leaders and elected officials involved in the vigil is currently focused on creating what would be the first city to reduce gun violence through an ordinance.
The agency, the group says, will provide funding, transparency and accountability for a committed effort to reduce gun violence. This is something from main sponsor Ald. Desmon Yancy (5th) said the city needs energy now more than ever.
“We removed ShotSpotter, which I think has caused some concern in many communities — and we’ve seen an increase in personal gun violence,” Yancy said.
The impact of gun violence is something Shavon Buckhalter knows all too well.
“All I want to know: where are your mothers, where are your fathers?” she said.
Buckhalter’s 14-year-old son, “Tony P,” was leaving a friend’s house on the South Side last week when he was shot multiple times. His mother said other teenagers were the attackers.
Tony P survived and is now recovering. But Buckhalter’s eldest son, Curtis, was shot in 2020, which she also said was a targeted attack.
The successive tragedies have taken their toll on Buckhalter.
“I am 46 years old. I want to live to be a hundred years old. I don’t want to keep burying or cremating my children. They are supposed to bury or cremate me, and not the other way around,” she says. said, “and there’s something that needs to be done here in the city of Chicago.”
Major changes, whether through a gun violence reduction agency or other means, are something the families who attended the vigil hope will come sooner or later.
Community leaders are now calling on residents to pressure their councilors to support the Gun Violence Reduction Office.
Similar offices and programs have been launched across the country, including in Baltimore, New York City and Oakland.
